The Current Admissions Climate for Top-Rated Schools

Harvard, Princeton and Yale – all are Ivy League universities that share an excellent reputation. They also share something else: a competitive admissions process that has acceptance rates in the single digits. In fact, Princeton, Cornell and several others are keeping their acceptance rates for the current year a secret so they don’t intimidate would-be applicants.

Meanwhile, other schools are experiencing the opposite problem: Schools that are lower in prestige are struggling to find enough new students to fill their classes as the overall student count around the nation has dropped another 5% since 2019. Lower-tier schools suffer disproportionately because – amid massive debates over the cost of higher education – students want the most value for their educational dollars.

What About Top-Rated Schools That Aren’t Ivy League?

Top-tier schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Stanford, Duke University and Berkeley are still highly desirable universities at the top of their game.

Given the tight enrollments at Ivy League schools, these are the colleges that many are calling “the new Ivy League.” A lot of the students who are attending these schools were turned down by their Ivy League choices, and that’s elevating the overall college rankings among second-choice schools across the board.

Since many of these schools have gone test-optional and are attracting more applicants among students who once would have focused solely on the Ivy League schools, it’s wise to broaden your outlook. Here’s what you can do to increase your chances of admission to one of these schools:

• Look for a Good Fit: Even if you’ve always dreamed of going to Yale, you want your “second-choice” schools to be a good fit with your personality and goals – not something that you merely settled on as a backup plan.
• Improve Your Extracurriculars: Whether you’re shadowing someone at a job you’d love to do yourself someday, scored an internship, started an independent study, launched a business or devoted yourself to an environmental cause with all your heart, showing some personality, initiative and drive can help set you apart from the crowd.
• Listen to Your School Counselor: They’ve been down this route before. While the current climate has unique origins, it’s not the first time that admissions have been tight in upper-level schools. Your admissions counselors know what it takes to gain an edge in the admissions process.
• Apply Early: It’s too late to do that for Fall 2022, but if you’re thinking ahead to Fall 2023, it’s definitely not too early to be developing an application strategy. Now is the time to start refining your list, thinking about personal essay topics, touring campuses and getting ready for the hard, final push on your admissions journey.

Finally, make sure that you capitalize on all your contacts with the schools you really want to attend. Make sure that you go out of your way to demonstrate interest in the schools you love the most – and have some faith in yourself! While the current admission climate can be daunting, you wouldn’t have gotten this far in your academic career if you weren’t worthy and capable of meeting your goals.